Just needed to vocalize to get it out to avoid passing the feelings on to the fam.
Starting a road trip with two young ones. Kind of stressed about it - we’re doing 30+hrs total car-time over the next couple of weeks.
Have lots of contingencies for the car ride, planned lots of stops, have lots of snacks and some new distractions for the kids.
Trying to tell myself over and over it’s not about getting there, it’s about making a day out of the drives. It’s a very different approach to how I’ve always traveled - usually my wife and I would just power thru and get there. With a potty trainer and a new walker I’m still coming to terms with expecting to stop every 30m. Idk that my heads totally there yet and wanted to share, even if just to put my thoughts on “paper”.
How have other dad’s out there had success with young ones on long trips? Any tips or ideas are welcome :)
I’m a bit late to this, but a couple of things we did when the kiddos were younger:
- Favorite blanket, pillow, and stuffy
- A sunshade for their seat
- Ask at EVERY rest stop, “Who needs to pee?” and then stop at every single one if needed…(and then everyone gets out to stretch even if they don’t need to pee)
- Love the ideas mentioned above about small toys wrapped up. We did variations on this.
- They each get to pack their own shoebox (e.g., 6 qt Sterilite Storage Container ) with anything they want.
- Play the license plate game.
- Headphones for any electronics that are coming AND the car charger or inverter for said electronic
- Hotspot or one of our phones in hotspot mode
The longest trip I’ve gone on with my son has only been about 5 hours and it was after he was past the potty-training stage, so I can’t really comment on something like a 30+ hour trip with toddlers. That said, I found it really helpful to play podcasts and music that are interesting to kids during the drive. We loaded up my phone with stuff like “Wow in the World”, “The Adventures of Finn Caspian”, “Caspar Babypants” (Chris Ballew from PotUSA), and They Might Be Giants. Basically stuff that isn’t super irritating for the adults, but will keep the kids entertained. We did have to take regular rest-stop breaks, but it worked pretty well and wasn’t nearly as disruptive as I anticipated. Also keep in mind that with younger kids especially, they will probably end up sleeping for long stretches of the trip anyway. Sitting in a car for long stretches is more tiring than it seems. Plan to take regular breaks just to stretch everyone’s legs, even if they don’t have to go potty.
My daughter is a spectacular traveler, so I’m very blessed. When she was 15 months we took her on an 1800 mile trip over a long 4-day weekend. I think she cried for a grand total of two hours that entire trip.
Just make sure to stop frequently to give them a break. In the age of electronics it’s possible to give them videos to watch, but I kinda hate this because you miss so much of the world in which we live.
Another option is pod casts for small people. My daughter loved Bedtime stories for rebel girls.
Play the license plate games. Start at zero and the goal is to count upwards. So spot a plate with a 0 then a plate with a 1, and so on
You can do three same with letters of the alphabet.
Collect license plates from as many states as possible.
These all keep the focus outward instead of on screens.
Hope some of those help.
